Folding tray



(No ModeL) M. I. HERMAN.

FOLDING TRAY.

No. 590,983. Patented Oct. 5,1897.

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MORRIS 1. HERMAN, or cINcINNATI, o1-11o.

FOLDING TRAY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 590,983, dated October 5, 1897.

Application filed March 22, 1897. Serial No. 628,648. (No model.)

T 00% whom, it may cancer/2,:

I Be it known that I, MORRIS I. HERMAN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Cincinnati, in the county of Hamilton and State of Ohio, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Folding Trays, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide a tray adapted for attachment to some stationary object in positions where it is desirable to economize space when a tray is not needed and which may be readily unfoldedand extended for use and as readily folded to occupy a small space when no longer needed for holding the desired articles.

My tray is especially adapted for attachment to the back of an opera-chair, in which position it may be folded against the back to allow of easy ingress to and egress from the seat in rear of it, and when the occupant is seated may be readily drawn out or unfolded to receive wraps, hats, or other articles which are ordinarily held in the occupants hands or lap during the performance.

The invention will be first fully described in connection with the accompanying drawings and then particularly referred to and pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the drawings, in which like parts are indicated by similar reference-letters wherever they occur throughout the various views, Figure l is a perspective view of my tray and the upper part of the operachair to which it is secured, the tray being in the partially-unfolded position. Fig. 2 is a side elevation, upon a greatly-enlarged scale, of the folded tray.

Referring to the parts, A represents the top rail of an ordinary opera-chair back to which the fixed bars B of the folding tray are secured.

B are the front uprights of the tray, and b, b, and b the front brace rods or bars which secure the front uprights B at the proper distances apart.

The bars B have their ends 12 turned at a right angle to the side upright, enlarged and perforated to receive the fastening-screws which secure them to the back A.

The front uprights B are preferably formed of angle-bars having the angle turned around in front for strength and the corner rounded for a smooth finish.

The bars B and B are longitudinally slotted from near their lower ends to near their mid-length to allow the pins Z) and b which are secured in the lower end of the end hinged bars o to slide up and downin the slots when the tray is extended or folded.

The inside end bars 19 of the folding sides are pivoted to the bars B and B by pivot-pins 19 The intermediate cross-bars are hinged together at the top by pivot-pins b and at the center by similar pins 19 9. The inner intermediate bars b are shorter than the outer bars I), and their lower ends are pivot-ed to the bars Z9 by pivot-pins Z7 In the lower ends of the outer bars Z9 are secured the ends of rods 0, which extend across from one side to the other and form the bottom of the tray when extended.

The purpose of extending the lower ends of the outer bars is to give greater depth to the tray, but it is obvious that the ends of the rods 0 might be passed through both bars and serve as hinges for them instead of the pins Z2 What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a folding tray the rear uprights having extended and perforated ends to be secured to a fixed object, the front uprights braced apart by the rods forming the front of the tray, both the front and rear uprights being slotted to receive and guide pins secured in the lower end bars of the folding sides, the folding sides having their upper end bars pivoted to the front uprights, and longitudinal bars secured in the lower ends of the folding side bars to form the bottom of the tray, substantially as shown and described.

2. The hereinbefore-described folding tray MORRIS I. HERMAN.

\Vitnesses:

JOSEPH A. HERMAN, GEO. J. MURRAY. 

